Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Semi-bad news: She's the agent's assistant, the agent in question hasn't actually seen it, and she wants a full rewrite.

She was nice nice nice as could be, and she really seems to get my novel. Also, she read all the way to the end, which makes me happy beyond belief. Her suggestions are all very good and would certainly make the book better, really fantastic even, but I'm still struggling, and here's why.

I love novel 2. Love love love. This is not why I'm skittish about a rewrite, rather, I'm afraid that, after almost a year spent on this novel, I'll never move on. I'm afraid to put more time into something that may never sell. I'm afraid I'll lose my current novels in the malaise of constant rewrites.

But, then again, part of being a writer is writing every word with the absolute knowledge that it may well never sell, that no one but you may ever see it. You can think something is amazing and wonderful and have no one share that opinion, it's all part and parcel of playing the letters game. But that's ok. That's how it has to be. I'm happy I got this far.

That said, I'm going to do the rewrite. I'm going to throw myself back into novel 2 like it's brand new, and I'm going to rip it apart to make it stronger. I love that book so much, it deserves nothing but the best I can give.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Obligatory Query Update:Getting many nibbles on Novel 2 - no bites yet, but still some exciting things! Gotta keep on keeping on! I swear I shall join you in agent land, Cyn, in this life or the next!

As you see, Novel 3’s word counter has been steadily counting up. Writing’s been going well, but I'm treading a bit more carefully as I get into uncharted waters. Not plot-wise, mind, I've got that covered up until the very end, but person-wise. Every writer gets a freebie at the beginning, mine was the ability to pull an awesome cast out of thin air (main characters, on the other hand, are a bit more trouble). Still, traditionally my characters come to me complete. They know who they are and what they want and my only job is to built the course they're chomping at the bit to run.

This time, however, things are different. See, the problem with these fully made people is that it's very hard to get them to change. They just sort of are who they are through the whole story, with no real development. I've always felt this was my weakest link as a writer. I write strong characters, but not fluid ones. They're pretty much the same people at the end of the book as they are at the beginning, and while those people were and are awesome, I always feel like I'm cheating myself out of a depth of story I know I can reach.

That’s why, when I chose my story for Novel 3, I made character change an integral part of the plot. I’m not talking about how the plot can’t move forward without the character’s action, every book worth the name has that. What I mean is that the events slated to happen at the end CAN NOT occur if the two main characters have not changed from their starting personalities. Or, rather, I’ve set it up so that what's going to happen will happen whether the cast is ready or not, so it's up to the characters to change enough to survive the ending. Overly dramatic? Probably, but by doing things this way I'm holding a gun to their little fictional heads (and, thusly, to my own swollen one):

“Change or get chunked,” I whisper as I flip the safety, “the choice is yours.”

2k to 10k

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Who are you again?

My name is Rachel Aaron/Rachel Bach, and I write the books you see over there on the left. I also play video games, watch anime, read manga, and read a TON of books. I love great sword fights, witty dialog, and charming rogues (except for the ones who stunlock me).